An aerial view of Wuxi. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province is well aware of the importance of talent to local economic development and it has in recent years ramped up efforts to attract more professionals.
Being the most attractive city for talent in China, Wuxi introduced its Taihu Lake Talent Plan in 2016, and since then it has upgraded the program twice.
In addition, the city has taken many other measures to attract more talent.
For example, the city has set aside 100 million yuan ($14.79 million) in 2020 to support the research team led by Academician Ding Han from the Wuxi Research Institute of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
A talent apartment in Wuxi. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
The city has also organized activities such as the Taihu Lake Talent Summit, and encouraged leading human resource agencies and intermediary service agencies to introduce high-level professionals.
As of the end of 2021, Wuxi had brought in 610 provincial-level talents and 58 provincial-level teams, 1.7 times and 2.2 times more than the numbers in 2012. The city is home to more than 1.95 million talents, up 55 percent from 10 years ago.
To date, 14 enterprises established by talent in Wuxi have gone public overseas with a combined A-share market value of over 700 billion yuan.
Wuxi not only focuses on bringing in talent, but also attaches importance to how to retain the talent it already has.
It has established the first one-stop service center for talent in Jiangsu, offering services related to travel, healthcare, and children's education, and funds have been set up to support innovation and startups.